Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-purpose device useful in lawn and turf care. Proper lawn maintenance requires mowing and periodic de-thatching. There are currently available mowers of various types both self-propelled and push mowers as well as larger riding mowers. These mowers use rotary cutters or radial blade cutters. Also available are de-thatching, machines. Conventional mowers provide for discharging the cut grass or for collecting same in bags attached to the mowers.
With present equipment when the turf maintenance regimen requires de-thatching, the procedure is to push a de-thatcher over the lawn. Said procedure leaves the thatch on the lawn and manual raking of the thatch is required in order to bag and remove same. Lastly the lawn is mowed to the desired height using available bagging lawn mowers, which may also pick up some of the thatch not raked. The above described procedure is labor intensive. This invention describes a multi-purpose mower and de-thatcher which is designed to accomplish the above described separate functions simultaneously in one pass over the lawn.
Most current designs are equipped with specially designed heavy duty blades for cutting or thatching depending on the implement. The blades require sharpening from time to time in order to obtain maximum efficiency of operation. The current invention provides for economy disposable blades together with a quick replacement means, thus reducing both equipment cost and labor in maintaining said equipment.
Not only does the current invention serve the multiple purpose of mowing and de-thatching, but due to its specially designed cutting means and its improved method of gathering the cut grass, the device will also serve as a mulching lawn mower, picking up leaves and small branches such as are common on lawns in the proximity of trees.
An object of the present invention is to provide a combination mowing and de-thatching as well as mulching apparatus in which the cutting blades are mounted radially on a rotating shaft. The rotation of the shaft on which the cutting blades are mounted is opposite the rotation of the wheels of the apparatus, such that the thatch and grass clippings are picked up and blown over the cutting mechanism and into a removable container provided therefor. The apparatus thus performs in one pass, the lawn maintenance tasks of de-thatching, mowing, raking and gathering.
Another object of the invention is to provide a combination mowing and de-thatching apparatus of the type described which is equipped with disposable blades. The cutting shaft has a plurality of blade mounting arms being interspersed radially. Radially outward ends of each of the mounting arms are equipped with mounting means on which a plurality of disposable blades are attached such that they extend radially from the rotating shaft in line with the blade mounting arms. The outer two blades being bent outwardly to mow grass while the center blade de-thatches, the combination of all the blades and the rotation of the shaft also creates the mulching action.
The multiple purpose is achieved by the unique removable blade assembly, which includes the three disposable free-swinging blades. The straight central blade, extends to reach into the turf and de-thatches the turf while the two outside blades, one on either side of the central blade are bent outwardly and remain above ground level as the shaft rotates, and these two blades cut the grass at the desired height. By proper positioning of the removable blade assemblies both axially and radially along the shaft, the grass is cut over the full width of the cutting path i.e. the length of the shaft, while the grass is simultaneously de-thatched at appropriate intervals.
The shaft is designed to rotate in a direction opposite to the motion of the mower de-thatcher. This combination results in lifting the cut grass and thatch up and over and into a removable collecting container provided. The combination mower de-thatcher is designed such that the cutting area and bagging area are all enclosed for both safety and for the collection of cut grass and thatch and other particles as the machine is operated over the lawn.
The rotating shaft together with the blades is protected by an enclosure. Said enclosure serves to protect the operator and any bystanders from debris which may be picked up during the operation of the apparatus. An object of the invention is the design of the tolerance within which the enclosure fits over the rotating blade assembly. The design is such to promote the gathering of the cut grass and thatch into the receptacle provided, while at the same time avoiding build up of cut grass residue on the inner surface of the enclosure as is common on existing mowers. This self-cleaning feature avoids the further labor-intensive task of periodically cleaning the inside of the existing mower enclosures which is particularly troublesome when cutting wet or dew moistened lawns.
Another object of this invention is a one-step method for adjusting the height at which the lawn is to be cut, thus obviating the necessity of adjusting each of the four wheels as is common in presently available mowers.